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16/12/2010

Syz & Co steps up Spanish private banking activities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following the first step announced this summer with its participation in the management firm N+1 Syz Gestión, the Swiss banking group SYZ & CO on 15 December announced that it is strengthening its presence in Spain with a second entity, N+1 SYZ Agencia de Valores, which will be dedicated to management for high net worth private clients. To create the new firm, in addition to personnel from N+1 and SYZ & CO, the new partnership will team up with several front-line personalities in the Spanish finance sector. The team at the new firm, led by Alfonso Gil, will include 20 people, with an average of over 15 years’ experience in private banking at domestic and international entities. Initially, N+1 SYZ will be active in Madrid and Bilbao, but other locations are also planned. It is 50% owned by SYZ & CO, while the remainder is shared by N+1 and employees of the new firm.
16/12/2010

Goldman head to launch his own hedge fund

Morgan Sze, the global head of Goldman Sachs’ biggest proprietary trading desk, GS Principal Strategies, has begun raising money for a hedge fund which is to be called Azentus Capital and will be based in Hong Kong, according to the Financial Times. It is going to start trading with between USD1bn and USD1.5bn, people familiar with the launch told the Financial Times. Mr Sze has yet to leave his position at Goldman.
16/12/2010

SAM achieves good results in UN-PRI compliance exam

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } The Swiss management firm SAM (Robeco group) on 15 December announced that its efforts to bring itself into compliance with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) were distinguished by the organism in charge of evaluating signatories in its most recent individual rating for 2010. Its rating has improved for virtually all chapters.In particular, SAM has risen from the second to the first quartile for the Second Principle (active exercise of shareholder rights & engagement); the manager has also held onto its place in the top quartile for integration of environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, criteria in the research process and investment decisions.The individual UN-{RI evaluation of SAM is available at this address:http://www.unpri.org/report10/2010_PDFs/PRI%202010%20-%20Full%20Respons…
16/12/2010

Zeno Staub to become CEO of Vontobel on 4 May

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 December, the board of directors of the Vontobel group appointed Zeno Staub as CEO from 4 May 2011, replacing Herbert J. Scheidt, who was already named as the future chairman of the board of directors in late August (see Newsmanagers of 1 September).Staub is currently head of the asset management business unit, a position he has held since 2008, and which he will retain until he takes up his new role. He has been a board member at the group since 2003, and joined Vontobel in 2001, before being appointed CFO in 2003.
16/12/2010

Performance of unit-linked wealth management often disappoints

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a study by independent analysts at the Fonds Consult agency, published exclusively by Handelsblatt, wealth management in the form of shares in investment funds often results in insufficient or below-average returns. In Germany, this market measures EUR28bn, and is sometimes aimed at clients with as little as EUR10,000.The leader in this market is DekaBank, which alone manages EUR11.4bn, and has a relatively good rating, although the two leaders in terms of returns are Fürst Fugger Privatbank and Commerzbank, with assets in this market niche of EUR0.3bn and EUR3.1bn, respectively. Lower in the rankings are the two institutions of the co-operative banking sector.Fonds Consult adds that the products on offer are often expensive, with fees sometimes reaching 3% for strategies based on equity funds.
16/12/2010

DekaBank shareholders have a solution within reach

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to sources close to the German savings banks, shareholders at DekaBank have reached an agreement, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The asset management firm is valued at EUR4.6bn, and the 50% stake controlled by the Landesbanken (WestLB, LBBW and NordLB) would be sold for EUR1.3bn to the savings banks, which already control a 50% stake in the firm. The remaining EUR1bn would be paid by DekaBank itself, whose owners’ equity would thus be reduced to EUR3.4bn.
16/12/2010

“Siggi” Thorkelsson becomes head of EMEA equities at Barclays Cap

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sigurbjorn “Siggi” Thorkelsson, who has already been head of Asia-Pacific equities since April, has been appointed head of equities, EMEA at Barclays Capital, which announced the promotion on 15 December. Thorkelsson will be in charge of the development of the equities platform for the investment bank. He will move to London in 2011, and will continue to report to Jerry Domini, global head of equities.Before joining Barclays Cap, Thorkelsson was head of equities, Asia Pacific, at Nomura. He previously served 13 years as head of equities, Asia Pacific at Lehman Brothers.
16/12/2010

Institutionals won over by absolute return UCITS funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } More than 70% of European institutional investors think that funds that comply with the UCITS directive may represent a growing proportion of absolute return products, as their liquidity and transparency presents a definite advantage, according to a survey by Aviva Investors of investors in several countries with EUR280bn under management. Respondents included institutional investors and financial establishments in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Ireland and Denmark. 67% say that they are also attracted to the products due to the regulatory security provided by UCITS status. These findings come at a time when 90% of investors say they are prepared to increase their exposure to absolute return strategies in the next three years. The absolute return strategies which interest them most are: global macro (67%), volatility trading (67%), long/short equity (60%), and market neutral (53%). When asked about the characteristics they look for in managers using absolute return strategies, European institutionals point to unanimity and rigour of the risk management framework. 80% also prefer a manager who is familiar with alternative management techniques, while 67% say the existence of an outperformance track record for the strategies is essential.
16/12/2010

Stoxx launches new optimised indices

Stoxx Limited has launched of the Stoxx Optimised Country Indices for select emerging markets, as well as that of the Stoxx Optimised Asia Select Index. The country indices are available for Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. The Stoxx Optimised Asia Select Index covers all companies which are based in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, and are listed on a North American stock exchange.All new indices are part of the Stoxx Optimised Index family. The most defining features of this family is that it does not only take into account the average daily trading value (ADTV) for stock selection but also for the derivation of the index constituents’ weights.
16/12/2010

Gervais Williams joins MAM Funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Gervais Williams, former head of UK small caps at Gartmore, is joining MAM Funds, a management firm listed on the AIM in London. He will be appointed managing director, pending the approval of shareholders. At the same time, Ian Dighé will be appointed executive chairman, and Graham Hooper director of distribution. Meanwhile, MAM Funds has also announced plans to raise a further GBP20m.
16/12/2010

Madoff scandal, a factor in valuation of Pioneer

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee in charge of liquidating the management firm operated by the US frauster Bernard Madoff, is seeking USD19.6bn from the UniCredit family of companies, Agefi reports. Candidates to acquire the asset management unit of the Italian bank are now seeking to evaluate the litigation to determine whether it will create liabilities for Pioneer. “This is one more factor to be taken into account in the due diligence,” says one of them. So far, with EUR185bn in assets under management as of the end of September and EUR247m in pre-tax profits for the first nine months of the year, Pioneer is estimated to be worth about EUR3bn. This price may be adjusted depending on the manner of payment of the acquisition price. Meanwhile, discussions are also taking in sensitive subjects, including distribution commissions paid to networks by the asset management firm. These now come to about 50% at Pioneer, compared with 65% to 70% for the industry as a whole in Italy. If Pioneer had to raise its commissions to this level tomorrow, its profits would decline, and therefore also its value, the newspaper reports.
16/12/2010

BlueCrest recruits Jaime Valdivia

BlueCrest Capital Management has appointed Jaime Valdivia as head of global emerging markets research and strategy. He joins from the Emerging Sovereign Group where he was a partner, portfolio manager and director of global macro research specialising in global sovereign credit and rates strategy.
16/12/2010

Two departures from FundQuest

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to reports in Citywire, Richard Timberlake and Paul Kim have resigned from FundQuest. They may join LV = Asset Management.
16/12/2010

Legal & General IM appoints a head for Middle East

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has appointed Andy Clark as head of the distribution team for the Middle East. Clark, who will be based in London, previously worked at Northern Trust Global Investments.
16/12/2010

Schroders closes its Asia fund to retail investors

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Citywire reports that Schroders has decided to close its Asia fund, Schroder ISF Asian Total Return, based in Luxembourg, to retail investors. Assets under management in the fund, launched in late 2007, now exceed USD1bn. The fund shows returns of 47.2% from its launch to the end of November, compared with losses of 8.2% for the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan index. The decision to close the fund aims to protect the performance of the fund, as inflows were highly dynamic in 2010. Schroders says that the strategy cannot claim to manage over USD1bn in assets without risk. Schroders states, however, that institutional investors will be able to continue to invest in C and I class shares for the near future.
16/12/2010

City tax revenues down

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to La Tribune, British financial services brought in GBP53.4bn (EUR63bn) in tax revenues last year (April 2009 to March 2010). The newspaper cites a report by the City of London Corporation. This represents a 13% decline compared with the previous year, and a 21% decline from 2007.
16/12/2010

Un nouveau hedge fund en vedette

Morgan Sze, qui doit quitter son poste de responsable du pôle de trading pour compte propre Principal Strategies chez Goldman Sachs, entend bien lancer au premier trimestre 2011 un fonds alternatif d’un montant de 1 à 1,5 milliard de dollars dès son lancement, soit le plus important depuis le début de la crise selon le quotidien. Ce fonds basé à Hong Kong, Azentus Capital, semble vivement attendu par le marché. La levée de fonds a débuté. Le fonds sera largement diversifié en termes de stratégies de gestion déployées. Un autre ancien de GSPS, Pierre-Henri Flamand, a déjà lancé un hedge fund cette année, Edoma Capital.
16/12/2010

Le Japon va durcir la réglementation minière

Le gouvernement prévoit d’exercer un contrôle plus strict sur ses ressources minières en exigeant des permis d’exploration et en revoyant la procédure d’attribution de droits miniers, rapporte le quotidien. Ces mesures seront soumises sous forme de projet de loi au parlement l’année prochaine. Le pays, richement doté en hydrate de méthane, veut se donner les moyens de gérer les ressources nationales.
16/12/2010

La société EGP crée un précédent en France

Dans une situation financière dégradée, et faisant l’objet de soupçons sur l’utilisation des titres et dépôts de ses clients, Européenne de Gestion Privée (EGP) a été radiée. L’AMF et l’ACP ont sollicité, pour la première fois depuis sa création en 1999, le Fonds de garantie des titres.
16/12/2010

Le marché du cuivre sous tension

D’après les données du LME, le 13 décembre, une institution non identifiée détient entre 50 et 80 % des certificats de stockage du métal de base, tandis que les stocks se contractent à vive allure. Le lancement des ETP sur métaux pourrait expliquer une partie de cette dynamique.
16/12/2010

Qualium Investissement revend Exxelia / Eurofarad

La filiale de la Caisse des dépôts a annoncé mercredi la cession d’Exxelia / Eurofarad, leader européen des composants passifs spécifiques, à LBO France. Le groupe devrait enregistrer en 2010 un chiffre d’affaires d’environ 73 millions d’euros. Qualium Investissement avait acquis en mars 2004 la majorité du capital aux côtés des fondateurs et des dirigeants.

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